Xref: utzoo news.software.b:5786 comp.sources.bugs:2562
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!coplex!dean
From: dean@coplex.UUCP (Dean Brooks)
Newsgroups: news.software.b,comp.sources.bugs
Subject: Re: C News patch of 7-Sep-1990
Message-ID: <197@coplex.UUCP>
Date: 20 Sep 90 14:56:27 GMT
References: <1990Sep9.230537.18939@zoo.toronto.edu> <1990Sep13.203645.12937@scuzzy.mbx.sub.org> <1990Sep17.010600.11421@vicom.com> <1990Sep17.121127.25859@ni.umd.edu> <1990Sep17.210150.1586@vicom.com> <1990Sep18.222450.25228@zoo.toronto.edu>
Followup-To: news.software.b
Organization: Copper Electronics Inc.; Louisville, Ky
Lines: 25

henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:

>One of the reasons why we're reluctant to change our patch scheme is pure
>spleen against people who appear to be blindly prejudiced against it, as
>shown by the silly reasons they advance.

>- How do you know whether you have the latest C News patch?  Well, how do
>  you know whether you have the latest B News patch?  Numbering/dating has
>  nothing to do with it.  Actually, dating is probably ahead here, since
>  if you have last February's patch, you might suspect you are behind,
>  while having patch 12 tells you nothing of the kind.

What?  You are kidding right?  

>D1. You cannot predict the name of a patch from the name of the previous
>	patch.  This can be troublesome when dealing with poorly-run
>	software archives, which let you retrieve files but won't give
>	you a list of available files.

The truth of the matter is that a large number of archives are not complete.
Since C-News hasn't been posted netwide in quite a while, most people are
relying on archives when upgrading to C-News from B.

In addition, the lXsXXarge number of patches becomes a problem as there is
no way of knowing